Sunday, April 13, 2014

I won't even post the pattern list for my Year of Projects because there's been no change in over two weeks. I'm still working away at my Fronkenshteek socks, and for a while longer all my needles and all my energy will be devoted to them. The main sock segments were knit by end of day Friday.

Since then, the steeks have been reinforced with machine stitched zigzags and cut. The pattern was written for homespun wool which would felt at the steeked joins, so no reinforcement would be necessary, however, because I'm working in Superwash wool, reinforcement seemed well advised. After watching a couple of YouTube videos I plunged ahead. So far, so good.

This morning I made a start on assembly. The Upper Innertubez that form the legs of the socks have been mattress-stitched into leg-sized tubes and grafted onto the Cuffs. The Lower Innertubez that form the feet of the socks have been semi-grafted onto the Toes. Yes I did say semi-grafted - the live stitches of the foot were kitchenered and the steeked edges of the toe were mattress-stitched to join them. The fact that the joining wasn't 1:1 so I had to mattress-stitch two loops every third join made it a bit trickier, but it was easier than I feared.

The next thing to assemble is the Ace Bandage section that wraps around the ankle and instep and is grafted to the leg at the top and the foot at the bottom. I'm not sure whether I'll get to that today. It's the sort of thing that needs patience, good light and a clear head. I've got chores to do and the afternoon light in our living and dining room is not good, so I might leave this to another day.

"Won't those seams be uncomfortable?", Gavin asked. "Aren't there easier ways to make socks?" Good questions, both of them. I'm guessing they'll be more comfortable after a couple of washes. As for easier ways to make socks, definitely! These socks are more of tutorial and an adventure than a sensible way to make socks. I'm getting to be a dab hand at provisional cast ons, steeking, grafting, mattress-stitching and all sorts of other finishing details.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Just before we left for our Florida getaway the most amazing package arrived in the mail - a beautiful pair of hand knit socks and some decadent Lindt chocolate. Completely unexpected!

You'd have thought that Restless Needles would be busy enough through her Mad March, what with worries about grandkids' health, tax preparation, getting ready for her own vacation, and broken bones resulting from a fall. But through all that craziness, she still found the time to knit these gorgeous Patina socks for me! And how thoughtful is this? She stalked through my Ravelry project pages to find my foot size so that the socks would fit perfectly. And fit perfectly they do! Considering my feet are size 11, that's a lot of knitting.

I should have posted earlier, but when I opened the package I squealed with delight, popped the socks on my feet and headed to the airport. It was these socks that I wore on the plane trip to and from Florida, and a few hours on chilly mornings in Florida as well. They're already well worn! When we returned home I worked my way through the mountains of laundry; my new socks were machine washed, laid flat to dry and are ready to wear again. Now that they're on my feet, I think that's where they'll stay for today. It's 4° this morning, with a forecast high of 7° so some wool socks with a bit of lace are ideal.

I haven't started Kwalla. I rewound the skein, but that's it... not a single stitch on needles. But I've got excuses, if you want to hear them.excuse #1: We were away for a week, and because we were flying I took no knitting needles. I just took a plastic crochet hook and a couple balls of acrylic DK. I didn't want to risk any trouble at the security desk, and I certainly didn't want to lose any DPNs. We just got back a few days ago, and those days have been mostly spent catching up at work, grocery shopping and doing laundry. The trip was great and the weather was just perfect ... a much-needed break from the never-ending winter.

excuse #2: I joined another KAL - the Seasonal Sock Syndrome KAL over at Revelations of a Delusional Knitter - and the sock I've started is all-consuming. The pattern I picked is Fronkenshteek by Lisa Grossman (designer of the famous Shark Week socks), and it's absolutely crazy! You knit several oddly shaped pieces, which you then steek into smaller pieces, and then reassemble all the bits and graft them together into a complete pair of socks. The designer does warn that skills needed are Kitchener Stitch, Mattress Stitch, Courage and a Sense of Humor LOL!

I've knit the first segment - the ribbed cuffs for both socks. The scrap yarn shows where the cuffs are to be cut apart. Pretty straight forward.

I'm currently knitting the second segment - the legs/ankle for both socks. After a dozen more rounds, I'll be moving the live stitches onto scrap yarn, removing the provisional cast on and moving those live stitches onto scrap yarn and then cutting the knitted tube from top to bottom on each side to create two rectangles. In turn those two rectangles will be mattress stitched into two tubes with live stitches top and bottom, which will eventually be grafted to the cuffs at the top and the ankle area at the bottom. Not so straight forward, but okay.

The next segment I'm to knit is what the designer calls the Ace Bandage. It wraps around the ankle, heel and instep kinda like those stretchy pressure bandages. Mental. Don't even ask me about the looming Bermuda Triangle sections ... I'm trying to avoid thinking about those for now.

I hadn't planned to knit this sock monogamously, but there is a little issue about needles. And once again, the designer did warn me.

Have a lot of needles at the ready, because the more you can substitute needles for stitch holders and waste yarn, the less precious time you’ll spend shuffling and fiddling when you get to piecing and assembly, and the faster you’ll reach the finish line. Just saying.

As soon as I separate the heel section into two heels, I'll be using two sets of needles. And when I cut apart the legs/ankles, I'll be using four more sets - 2x top live stitches and 2x bottom live stitches. That's six sets of needles in play, at least until I start grafting things together. So I think you can see my hesitation about casting on anything else that uses the same size needles. I just don't have enough needles to go around!A note about Fronkenshteek: it's a crazy way to make a pair of socks. It's the craziness that appeals to me. By the end of this project I expect to be pretty good at steeking, grafting and seaming ... presuming I complete them successfully and don't wind up with a pile of unravelled lengths of yarn. I also think that the socks are likely to be quite attractive, because the shaping creates cross-grained pieces in different directions which will shine in a tonal yarn, and the seams create an interesting piping effect around the leg and criss-crossing around the ankle and the foot. It's going to be an adventure!